MARTIN, George R.R. (born 1948).
A Song of Ice and Fire. Comprising: A Game - MARTIN, George R.R. (born 1948) - 1996. [1278179]New York, NY: Bantam, 1996-2011. - SIGNED FIRST US EDITIONS. Five volumes. Octavo, pp.694; 761;973; 753, [17] preview chapter; 1016. All in unclipped pictorial dust-wrappers; designed and illustrated by Tom Hallman, Stephen Youll, Jamie S Youll, David Stevenson, and Larry Rostant. Volumes one to three bound in publisher's paper-covered boards with author's signature debossed to front board, titles to spine. Volumes four in similar paper-covered boards, with no signature to front board. Again, volume five in similar paper-covered boards, with ornamental gilt device to front board. Internally pristine, with author's signature to the title page of each volume. Bindings are presentable and tight. The dust-jackets are all clean and attractive, with the first two showing nigh-imperceptible signs of shelfwear. Martin was already a prominent author of science fiction and fantasy when he began what has become the tremendously popular "A Song of Ice and Fire" sequence in 1991, having worked on the extraordinary "Twilight Zone", won three Hugos, two Nebulas, and a World Fantasy Award, and won particular praise for his short stories. His sudden universal acclaim in the field of doorstep fantasy novels is therefore both surprising, and not at all surprising. It would take until 1996 for the first entry in the series, "A Game of Thrones" to reach publication, five years from Martin's first attempt, a time period which would become familiar to fans of the series. Praised and condemned for their textured depiction of the nuance of character and moral ambiguity, the novels have been adapted into an award winning HBO series, which continues to dominate ratings around the world. Many of its lines and characters have been adopted in popular culture, and one need only say "Winter is coming" or "You know nothing" to evoke the atmosphere of the work in many listeners. It is inspired by Martin's understanding of the realities of history and warfare, drawing on the War of the Roses, Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, and a number of other depictions of the grim reality of life on and off the battlefield in a feudal setting - rendered all the more interesting by Martin's own conscientious objection to the war in Vietnam, and his continuing insistence that his works do not glorify violence, though this latter claim is somewhat overshadowed by controversies concerning the depiction of violence in the television adaptation. This set includes all the currently extant novels in the sequence, with at least two more scheduled to appear at an unknown future date; however, it is worth noting that the series was originally envisioned as a trilogy, and so, like Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", it might be the case that it eventually spans more novels than currently projected. [Attributes: First Edition; Signed Copy; Soft Cover]
[Bookseller: Adrian Harrington Ltd, PBFA, ABA, ILAB]